Did you know that China and South Korea are Spammers Extraordinaire? According to this fresh infographic, the two countries are responsible for over fifty percent of the world’s email spam. Something to consider the next time you’re deleting another amazing offer for Viagra from your inbox.

Moreover, if you’re located in Europe, you can thank the Koreans for all that spam; more than 56% of all european spam comes from South Korea. The latter has been making news lately for more than just gangnam style and k-pop; their decades-long dispute with Japan over comfort women, as well as their own comfort women from the Korean War, who are speaking up for the first time against their government.

Both Ukraine and the Philippines are also sending more spam to the world, while countries like India and Japan have actually shown a decrease in spam sent.

Social networking sites — emphasis on Facebook — have changed the way we communicate with our friends and family, and not for the better. Instead of engaging in real conversations with real people and enjoying real moments as they happen, we often get locked in comment wars with people we’ve never actually met and end up recording memorable moments instead of actually experiencing them. (All so we can post it later to our timeline and watch the Like counts go up.)

There’s a lot to like about social media, but there’s also plenty to hate, and unfortunately, most of the latter comes from the people who are supposed to be friends. These are their top behaviors that make us want to disconnect in 2014.

Partisan Posting

I have more than 900 friends on Facebook (and we’re oh-so-close), and while pretty much all of them hate Congress and/or the President, each one believes it’s the other guy’s fault. Yes, people are fed up. There’s a revolution brewing. And by God, they’re gonna change the world…by voting for the same exact people who are currently in office. Not only that, they’re going to tell you about it while sharing post after post from sites like Mother Jones, MSNBC, and Newsmax.

I Know Most Of My Friends Won’t Share…

These are the 21st Century equivalents of chain letters, and they come in a few different forms. There’s the guilt-trip that tries getting you to re-post or Like something. There’s the BS share-this-and-in-the-next-hour-God-will-bless-you. There’s the random article-share where “You won’t believe what happens next.” (Shutty, ViralNova and Upworthy.) Give it up. Post things that are interesting to you, but cut it with the sappy emotional appeals.

Constantly Trying To Prove You Have A Great Life

We sincerely don’t want anyone to be unhappy. (Well, unless you abuse a child; then we want you to be very unhappy.) However, six posts a day about how blessed you are to be doing what you’re doing, to have the man/woman/child in your life that you adore, name-dropping, etc. Stop being such a Like-ho, and start using a little discretion. You can be positive without constantly fishing for compliments or coming across as a one-upper.

Constantly Hating Life

If your last several posts are about how bad life is, how other people are mean or suck or are always out to get you, how your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife/babymama/babydaddy is always trying to screw up your life, then I got news: you’ve got a little drama queen in ya. That’s right. Life may or may not be screwing you, but if you’re constantly complaining about how bad it is, then you’re bringing quite a bit of it on yourself. Check over your last 10 posts. If half or all can be construed as negative, then you probably need to make a few life changes of your own.

So that’s it — everything that makes us want to disconnect (or at least deactivate). What friend behaviors make you want to do the same in 2014? Let us know in the comments section.

Tech gadgets come and go. They come in different shapes and sizes with varying functions. But one thing’s for sure, developers from all over the world will continue to create them moving forward in an effort to meet people’s needs.

The reality is that not all developers of tech gadgets and software applications have the budget to pursue their projects. The good news is that those who lack funds can turn to the largest crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to get their needed financial support.

Kickstarter has successfully funded some 1,063 technology projects. Most of them raised from $1,000 to less than $10,000 while 11 projects were able to raise more than $1 million.

If you’re in the market for a new car, you have a lot of factors to consider. Buying new vs. buying used, going through a dealership or buying direct from an owner, how much you can spend … not to mention what kind of car you’ll end up with and the features you need.

As you examine your options, don’t rule out electric cars too early. You might be surprised to find that the costs of 100% electric cars are coming down while the convenience of recharging is rising. [Read more…]

Your PC isn’t only used to play games, surf the Internet, and watch YouTube videos. You also use your home computer to store files. In some cases, those files may contain sensitive and vital information.

If an unfortunate event occurs, such as the loss or theft of your PC, you won’t struggle much to watch YouTube videos or play games on a new computer purchased to replace the other one. However, if you haven’t protected your old PC properly, then the sensitive files on the old system could be compromised.

This means that unscrupulous individuals may have access to those files, and could use them for malicious purposes, such as identity theft. How can you ensure that your home computer files are as safe as possible? Here are five ideas. [Read more…]